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During the winter of 1996 I spent some time in South Africa with two traditional healers, Sangomas. I would visit them at the end of the day. As the African night fell I would sit with them in a shack in a poor township on the outskirts of Cape Town and they would tell me about their work. From time to time one needs a renewal in one's work and as I sat and listened to their stories of dreams, their ancestral past, their perceptions of what needed to be cured I felt an excitement and an inspiration that have remained with me. I was being allowed to partake of a profound and ancient wisdom.
One night whilst in South Africa I had a vivid dream. I dreamt I was in a room at one end of which, with the sunlight streaming through the window onto their gleaming coats, were two frolicking golden Labradors. At the other end of the room, next to where I was standing, was a ceiling to floor cupboard, in front of which hung a curtain. I knew I had to sort out the cupboard, but had been avoiding the task. I decided to do it then. I drew back the curtain. The cupboard was empty except for an emaciated, shivering black dog with a large sore on its left side. It was lying on the floor. As I watched in horror, realising I had placed the dog in the cupboard without food or water hoping it would die, it crawled out to join the gamboling labradors.
The next day I was due to visit the Sangomas. I asked them if I could relate my dream. To the African dreams are a vital part of their daily existence. There is no conflict between "the conscious mind" and "the dreaming self". Each is equally important and dreams follow thoughts as night follows day. Dreams have a long and wide association with medicine, both as uncomfortable symptoms requiring treatment and also because of their perceived significance and power.
In African society it is not only that dreams are seen as potentially healing, but generally more regard is given to their power than in the West. Sangomas are usually called to their vocation by dreams. Sometimes the master healer to whom they should apprentice themselves appears in a dream. Dreams are often used for diagnosis as also are meditative states into which a Sangoma goes to allow inspiration to arise. Patients take their dreams to Sangomas for advice.
I recounted my dream. The Western Psychotherapeutic interpretation is not difficult. African healers do not interpret dreams. Having listened to my dream the chief healer, Nelson, told me that the black dog was the most important aspect of my life at the present time and would lead me forward. I explained that I didn't like the black dog and had wanted it to die. His reply was that what I felt was due to an "ill wind" and he would give me something to heal my dream.
I returned the following day and was given a powder which was to be dissolved in a large tin of water and then "frothed up" with a forked stick. I was to smear the frothing liquid on my face and inhale it. As the liquid in the tin decreased I was to add more water and continue frothing! This was not the only idea that Nelson and Hahnemann shared. I was told I would dream more dreams, many of which I would not like. This proved to be correct.
On my return to England the "frothing liquid" was potentised and named temporarily "Dreaming Potency" as at this time I was unaware of what it was. I conducted a proving. The methods I used were based on Jeremy Sherr's book "The Dynamics and Methodology of Homeopathic Provings".
I would like to present the proving as it developed without too much of my own interpretation and observation. However, there are a couple of occurrences worth mentioning. The main theme that emerged was that of the feminine. Provers spoke of feeling "soft and feminine" of "allowing things to happen" instead of making decisions and pursuing them to the end.
The provers dream lives were rich and varied. I learnt after I conducted the proving that the Sangomas use Ubulawo to induce dreams to clear the psyche for more dreams to arise to help the person along their path in life. Several of the provers sunk onto a deep depression and became immersed in their shadow side.
A student from the Burren School of Homeopathy gave me an interesting piece of information. It is well-known that Winston Churchill suffered constant bouts of depression throughout his life. What is less well-known is that he called these depressions "my black dog". It was whilst I was on a Winston Churchill travelling scholarship that I had my dream of the black dog that led to this proving.
There is no doubt that any involvement in a proving enriches not so much one's knowledge but rather one's understanding of the homeopathic and healing process in a unique way. An illustration of this is the fact that that he prover who received Sac Lac produced symptoms that embodied the essence of the proving, "felt soft, round and feminine" and "the depression I went through in the middle of this proving has knocked me off my feet a bit, and the motivation for life in general is not there in the same way as before".
What does this mean? I always feel questions are more important than answers, that questions will keep us alive to ideas beyond the grasp of reason. Without the help of teachers such as Jung the Sangomas understood that man at some point reaches the edge of certainty beyond which conscious knowledge cannot pass, that the unconscious communicates with the conscious mind through the medium of symbols, dreams, myths and rituals. The time I spent with the Sangomas and conducting the proving of what they prescribed to me gave me a glimpse into the deepest layers of our being, that part of the human being that always remains unfathomable, beyond the reach of our rational understanding. I was reminded of the lines of T.S.Eliot:
I did not decide to do a proving of the remedy given to me by the sangomas to heal my dream until after my return to Britain. Since then I have been trying to discover the name of the substance, but have only been able to ascertain that it is the ground up bark of a tree. This has been partly due to the difficulty of communicating at a distance with people who do not have access to communications that we take for granted. The greater reason, however, is that in the past the generosity and trust of the local sangomas in the sharing of their expertise and knowledge has been grossly betrayed. Without their permission or recompense to their communities the knowledge the sangomas so freely shared has been used by drug companies to patent medicines thereby enriching themselves with no interest in or concern for the people they are robbing or the land they are denuding.
It is perhaps fitting that the remedy will be known as Dreaming Potency, the name by which I have known it since before the proving began.
Some of the frothing mixture given to me by Nelson was taken to Helios Homoeopathic Pharmacy where it was triturated to 3c and then succussed to 30c by the method described by Hahnemann in the footnotes to paragraph 270 of the Organon.
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Prover
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Gender
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Dose
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Potency
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Prover
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Gender
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Dose
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Potency
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01P
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M
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6
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6c
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12P
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F
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-
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Sac lac
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02P
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F
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4
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6c
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13P
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F
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2
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30c
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|
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03P
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F
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1
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30c
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14P
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M
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2
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30c
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|
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04P
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M
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1
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30c
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15P
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M
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2
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6c
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|
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05P
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F
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4
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30c
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16P
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F
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1
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6c
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|
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07P
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F
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4
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12c
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17P
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M
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3
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30c
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09P
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F
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4
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12c
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18P
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F
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6
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30c
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10P
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F
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7
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30c
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The first number after a symptom indicates which of the provers experienced the symptom.
The second number indicates the day of the proving. Day 1 is the day on which the remedy was taken. Day 0 indicates a general symptom not linked to a particular day.
The third number is the time of day at which the symptom was experienced. XX.XX means that the prover did not link the experience to a particular time. If the number is preceded by "+", it indicates that the symptom was experienced that number of hours after taking the remedy.
The last letters indicate the type of symptom.
NS New Symptom,
OS Old Symptom (last experienced mort than a year ago),
RS Recent Symptom,
AS Altered Symptom,
CS Cured symptom.
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